Netgear R6250 Dual Band Gigabit Smart WiFi Router Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The R6250 only has a single model the supersedes it – namely the R6300 that I looked at towards the start of the year. Whilst the top end R6300 still retails for the best part of £180, the slightly slower R6250 is on the shelves for around two-thirds of the price – about £120 (inc VAT). Considering that it still packs the same feature rich user interface, on to of USB3.0 connectivity and the next generation wireless standard (albeit a little slower than its bigger brother), the R6250 is a mighty router for the price.

Overview

When I looked at the R6300, it has to be said that I was blown away by the huge number of features and the performance that was on offer. As a result, I ended up taking one on-board myself for use at home and I’m glad I did. Like the top performing R6300, the R6250 is another product that adds to the huge reputation that Netgear have been building on for a number of years. With the next generation of wireless adaptors and devices that are compliant with the 802.11ac standard starting to appear on the market, Netgear are certainly ready to provide a line of routers that will be able to deliver the performance the we are all eager to get at.

On the front of being user being friendly, Netgear have also got this well and truly nailed. Instead of having both basic and advanced features mixed together in a single menu, Netgear has separated theirs to make it easier for novice users to work their way through, thus reducing the complexity of setting the unit up. The desktop Genie software only adds to the simplicity, with an easy to view network map and shortcuts to key areas of the web interface – making for a more worthy package.

The performance is what really makes this router a top of the line model. offering speeds of up to 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and up to 1300Mbps on the 5GHz band, there is no shortage of bandwidth to play with. The high bandwidth makes the R6250 ideal for gamers who wish to connect wirelessly, but with low pings and fast speeds. To get the full advantage of this routers Gigabit WiFi, you are more than likely going to need a USB wireless-AC adaptor for your laptop or desktop PC, such as Netgear’s own A6200 AC adaptor that we now use here for testing (a review of this will follow accordingly), but if you wish to wait for the next generation of devices then it will still offer you all that you need.  As a result, some people may feel like this is an over the top approach to the current wireless standards, but what this does mean is the high performance family of routers from Netgear are ready for when AC becomes more common on the market. We all want to be future proof in one way or another and by getting a router like this, you are on a sure way to being ready for the next generation of wireless AC devices.

By the time you’ve looked at comparing this router with the top end R6300 and more importantly the price, sacrificing two USB2.0 ports for a single USB3.0 port and loosing a small amount of 2.4GHz bandwidth soon becomes less of a concern considering the saving that you would make. Will you get your money’s worth? I’m certain you will.

Pros:

• Established brand
• Easy to use UI
• Gigabit WiFi ready
• USB3.0 port
• Dual Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios
• Beamforming+ technology

Cons:

• Separate modem required for ADSL connections

“Netgear’s R6250 offers up a whole host of top end features that will put many run of the mill routers to shame. With the 802.11ac standard just starting to appear on the market, you can be sure that this router will be ready to give the blazing speeds and coverage that we all want to have. Having only a small drop in performance over its bigger brother the R6300, but at only two-thirds of the cost, the R6250 offers up a huge amount of performance for the price.”

Thanks to Netgear for providing this review sample.